Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja 

The Director General, Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NigComSat), Jane Egerton-Idehen, has disclosed that the company is now commercially viable. 

Egerton-Idehen said NigComSat is today a commercially viable liability company that should generate revenue for government and not rely solely on government for funds.

She made the disclosure at the March edition of the monthly Devs in Government organised by the Federal Ministry of Communications Innovation and Digital Economy.

“You were given an asset expecting that you create value, monetise it so that you can run the operation and create value for your investor. So that was really important for us at NigComSat. So we had to go back to the drawing board.

“And it was also important for us to be commercially viable. I think that was our biggest problem. We were not commercially viable.

“We are seen as we are a limited liability company. If you’re not commercially viable, you cannot do business and there’s no continuity. You cannot totally depend on the government to fund you.

“We are modernising, we technically modernise. It’s a bit technical, what we call our hubs, which is our main infrastructure last year. We are on the path to actually relaunch the stuff like this another three years,” she said.

To increase the percentage of women in technology, she recommended that “government and private sector organise policies and practices that promote equity and inclusion in workplaces”.

The Postmaster General of the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST), Tola Adeyemi, on her part, said the government had given women lots of opportunities. 

She, however, urged both the public and private sector to create work balance for females because of their child-bearing factor.

“The past few heads of service have been females. Nine of my 17 directors are females and this is just by seniority. Government is doing what it should do in terms of creating that level field, at least at the federal level, equal playing field for people. People are accepted into civil service, regardless of their gender.

“People are promoted regardless of their gender. Some people might ask for quotas and affirmative action. I might differ a bit on those,” she emphasised.

She spoke on some of the challenges women face in work place as a result of child-bearing. 

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